Before automakers created or acquired their own, in-house performance divisions, John Coombs, a U.K. Jaguar dealer, applied race-tested performance modifications to his customers' road cars. His engine, exhaust, steering and suspension upgrades – all available to the public – could bring the sedan's performance in line with the E-Type of the day. In doing so, Coombs effectively invented the tuner sports sedan.

Coombs didn't just pick a Mark 2 off of his lot and take it racing. His involvement in motorsports began more than a decade earlier when he drove his own
Rover-powered Cooper. By the time the Mark 2 appeared, such greats as Roy Salvadori, Dan Gurney and Graham Hill were piloting his modified sedans in races
across Europe. The ingredients to the Coombs-modified Mark 2's winning formula were then added to the options available on road cars at his dealership,
Coombs of Guildford in Surrey. It's a formula that is familiar to anyone today looking at how M Division and AMG sedans evolved through
racing.

For his race cars, Coombs would strip weight, weld body seams for stiffness and bring weight back up to regulations by strategically placing lead blocks
low in the floor to balance handling. Some customers that bought his modified Mark 2 road cars even ponied up for the considerable cost of such
modification, but most went for more affordable road-oriented equipment upgrades.

The next priciest change was his engine treatment. It included higher-compression pistons, a lighter flywheel, top-end work and open trumpet intakes. The
cylinder head could also be machined for an even higher 9.5:1 compression ratio, and a cold-air intake was offered. Several exhaust options including one with a
hand-made muffler were also on the menu.

For the Mark 2's chassis, Coombs fitted adjustable dampers, stiffer front springs and an anti-roll bar. A quicker-ratio steering box could also be ordered,
all a la carte.

As a precursor to today's special performance models, a few appearance modifications were available for the Mark 2 from Coombs of Guildford, too. Among
these were wire wheels, a leather-covered roof and an E-Type wood steering wheel.

In giving the public these performance-minded choices, John Coombs invited drivers to choose a four-door sedan—a saloon, he'd surely call it—that
delivered speed and handling similar to that of exciting road-going sports cars of the day. His Coombs-modified Mark 2s arrived about a decade before AMG
began tweaking Mercedes-Benz models and BMW formed its M Division. Now, there are many very-high-performance sedans on the new car market that follow the formula Coombs came up with.

They come
straight from the factory with enormous output and blistering performance. Their more mainstream sister models are no slouches. Base models boast
300-horsepower engines and suspensions tested by the best drivers on the most challenging roads and tracks around the world. In other words, sports sedan
development is done the same way it was fifty years ago. Now, though, the automakers do it themselves.

John Coombs sold his dealership in the late 1980s, but remained involved in the automobile world until his death earlier this year. (Read his obituary here, at the Telegraph.) We remember him for the
improvements he brought during his long career and thank him for the variety of exciting, high-performance rear-wheel drive sedans available today. All
follow the lead of his Coombs-modified Jaguar Mark 2. While automakers were keeping our choices simple by offering a sports car or a sedan, he was
creating a single car that brought the best of both.